Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1998 23:19:57 -0600 (MDT) From: "Kenneth D. Merry" <ken@plutotech.com> To: chuckr@glue.umd.edu (Chuck Robey) Cc: stefan@teledigit.se, freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Dual PP MB of choice? Message-ID: <199804090519.XAA05452@panzer.plutotech.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.96.980408222455.26797K-100000@localhost> from Chuck Robey at "Apr 8, 98 10:29:00 pm"
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Chuck Robey wrote... > On Thu, 9 Apr 1998, Stefan Lindgren wrote: > > > Hi, again. > > > > Thanks a lot for the fast responses about the ASUS P/I-P65UP8 MB. > > > > Is there any suggestions about a lightning fast >= 2 PP MB with > > integrated U/W SCSI that supports 1 GB RAM? > > I wouldn't mind being corrected here if I'm wrong, but if I remember > right, there was discussion some time back, that the Adaptec-derived > scsi controllers that were integrated onto motherboards were somewhat > crippled, at least in terms of on board command memory and tags. I > remember the gist I got from the discussion was that I would be better > off rejecting the notion of getting an integrated controller (I was > shopping for a new system at that time). I think it would really depend on which Adaptec chip is on the motherboard. Most newer boards have 7880's or 7895's on board. Both of those offer plenty of tags and good performance. Of course, if you get a motherboard with a 7895 on board, you'll need to run CAM. So, the main thing to look at is which chip is on the motherboard. If it's a 7880, 7895 or 7890, you should get good performance, and you'll save a good bit of money by having it on the motherboard. (from looking at one vendor's web page, there is about a $70 difference for the ASUS Pentium II boards with Adaptec 7880's versus the ones without the SCSI chip. Adaptec 2940UW's from the same place are about $230, so you save $160.) Back to the original question though... If you can, I'd wait a little bit on getting a new system until the Slot-2 chips come out. They'll have a cache that runs at the same speed as the processor, and presumably they'll be able to cache up to 4GB of RAM, unlike the Pentium II. (it can only cache 512MB) Like the 350MHz and 400MHz Pentium II chips, the Slot-2 chips will have a 100MHz memory bus. The 450NX chipset (that will come along with the Slot-2 chips) will also have support for 4-way SMP. If you can't wait, there are some Pentium Pro boards that support more than 512MB of RAM. Most notable, probably, are the 450GX boards. (Intel Alder and AMI Goliath) There are some 440FX boards that support 1GB of ram. This one looks interesting: http://developer.intel.com/design/servers/BB440fx/prodspec.htm (it's actually a server platform, but the specs for the motherboard might interest you) It's got the 440FX chipset, supports up to 1GB of memory, has an onboard 82557 ethernet controller, and an onboard Adaptec 7880. The interesting thing is that I can't find a description or model number for just the motherboard. Ahh...it looks like it uses a "Buck" (B440FX) motherboard: http://developer.intel.com/design/servers/docs/buck-TPS.pdf I haven't heard anything about it though. The specs look good at least. Ken -- Kenneth Merry ken@plutotech.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message
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